


with fire and gold in our eyes

by darkrosemind



Category: Brooklyn Nine-Nine (TV)
Genre: F/F, Idiots in Love, Realization of Feelings, Return of the King, au in which rosa and jocelyn were never together, bi character(s), dianetti, return of the king alternative plot, spoilers for b99 06x15
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-07
Updated: 2019-05-07
Packaged: 2020-02-27 22:43:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,716
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18748567
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/darkrosemind/pseuds/darkrosemind
Summary: Brooklyn Nine-Nine season 6 episode 15 alternative plot, in which Gina returns to the precinct to find Rosa, who is very angry at Gina for not staying in touch.





	with fire and gold in our eyes

**Author's Note:**

> inspired by [this text post by @bi-anetti](https://bi-anetti.tumblr.com/post/184638436575/alternative-resturn-of-the-king-plot-gina-is); thank you to [@wildfireimaginaryspaces](https://wildfireimaginaryspaces.tumblr.com) for getting me to write this!
> 
> title lyrics from 'fire n gold' by bea miller

Rosa is still pumped up from her successful hand-less door-opening when she hears the voice. A confident, dazzling, and eminent voice that Rosa hasn’t heard in  _ ages _ (except for online, of course, but not that Rosa Diaz stalks Gina Linetti in any way. She’s just seen a few (read:  _ all) _ of Gina’s YouTube videos and checks Gina’s Twitter from time to time. No big deal).

But she hasn’t actually spoken to Linetti in a  _ long _ time. It’s not Gina’s fault for being famous, of course, but?? Rosa’s still slightly pissed at Gina for leaving the squad behind. Gina doesn’t even have drinks at Shaw’s with them anymore. Even when she says she’ll be there, Jake always comes bearing news of a photo-shoot or something that’s preoccupied Gina.

Rosa’s missed Gina’s presence at the precinct. She’s happy for Gina, but nothing’s quite the same without her. The bullpen feels colder and emptier than usual; without Gina’s razzle-dazzle and snarky comments. Also, no one’s there to steal sips from Rosa’s coffee cup in the morning (not that she would ever let anyone besides Gina steal sips from her coffee cup, of course).

So when Rosa whips around to see the back of Gina’s head, all rational thought flies out of her head. Gina’s perched on her old desk as if she had never left, and she’s animatedly talking to Jake. Rosa doesn’t bother to wait around for their conversation to end. She marches right over and punches Gina in the arm the best she can with her cast.

“Ow!” Gina pauses mid-sentence and turns around. “Maybe Rosa’s the one trying to kill me, Jake. Try looking into that.”

Jake rolls his eyes. “Rosa’s not attempting to murder you,” he says, but Gina ignores him as her eyes trail down to Rosa’s hidden hands.

“Damn, girl, what  _ happened _ to you?!” Gina asks, reaching for one of Rosa’s arms. Rosa whisks her hands behind her back before Gina can get to them.

“Poison oak,” Rosa mutters stiffly.

“Damn, I knew it!” Gina exclaims. “Rosa’s a witch who brews potions in the middle of the woods!”

Rosa punches Gina in the arm again, but this time, it’s softer. “Why didn’t you call or text or anything?” she asks, crossing her arms and staring down Gina. 

Jake takes this as his cue to leave.  “We’ll talk about your safety later, Gina,” he says as he goes. 

Gina shrugs and turns back to Rosa. “Did’ya hear?” she asks, jerking her thumbs at Jake as he walks away. “Someone’s trying to kill me.”

Rosa rolls her eyes. “Stop making excuses, Linetti. You’ve been blowing us off for Friday night drinks for like,  _ ever. _ ” She pulls her phone out of her pocket and spends a few seconds tapping on it before turning the screen to show Gina. “See, one week ago. You said, ‘I’ll be at Shaw’s.’ Two hours later, you said, ‘sorry guys, interview. ttyl.’ And then you never did talk to us later.”

Gina frowns at the confrontation. “Rosie—” she attempts to interrupt, holding up one hand.

“Look, Gina, I know you’re busy with your fame and your G-Hive stuff and your Gina constitution—”

“Ginamendments,” Gina corrects stiffly.

“Yeah, whatever. But you gotta make some time for us. You haven’t visited or called or texted— for all we could have known, you could’ve been dead,” Rosa finishes. 

“Uh, you guys all know that I’m well and alive because I’m  _ famous. _ But like, someone  _ is _ tryna kill me—” Gina catches sight of Rosa’s glare and stops speaking. She sighs. “Okay, fine. You wanna hang out? I’m like, stuck here anyways, so let’s… hang out. Like old times.”

“Great,” Rosa says apathetically. “I have to fill out some paperwork on my computer, but we can hang out, I guess.”

Five minutes later, Rosa is slowly trying to type with her bandaged hands. Gina sits atop her desk and keeps her eyes glued to her phone. It’s… awkward, to say in the least. 

An hour passes by. Gina does a live stream― pointing the camera only once at Rosa before Rosa snarls and throws a pen with both hands in its direction. Rosa runs out of logs to fill out to do and signs into Jake's account to do some of his― she's lucky Gina doesn't notice or else she'd have to endure comments about "becoming an Amy," and Rosa would rather stuff her head in the microwave than hear that. Gina steals Rosa's coffee and a sandwich from Scully, and eats while still sitting on top of Rosa's desk. Rosa scowls and brushes away the crumbs.

The elevator pings open and a woman with short brown-dirty blonde-ish hair that is slicked back enters the bullpen. Her eyes light up when she sees Rosa, and she walks over to Rosa's desk.

"Hey, Rosa!" the woman chirps. "My motorcycle's in repair right now, and I left my subway card at your place last night."

Rosa pulls open one of the drawers in her desk. "Yeah, I got it right here," Rosa says, trying to get the card out of the drawer. The woman leans forward and grabs it.

Gina looks from Rosa to the woman in disbelief. "Really, Rosa? This is your girlfriend?" Gina asks, putting down her phone. 

Rosa's cheeks burn and the woman awkwardly laughs. "No, we're just friends," the woman says. "Jocelyn Pryce. You must be Gina Linetti." Jocelyn offers Gina her hand, but Gina doesn't shake it.

"So, how do you know of me? Has Rosa told me about you?" Gina asks.

"No. You're kind of an internet sensation right now," Jocelyn says.

"Well, I can't deny that," Gina sighs. "But what were you doing at Rosa's place last night? Only like five people including myself have that address." Gina raises a suggestive eyebrow.

"Only three," Rosa says, "because I moved again."

"What?! Are you saying that I don't know where you live anymore??" Gina asks incredulously. 

"It's your fault," Rosa shrugs nonchalantly. "You're the one who abandoned us for your internet fame."

Jocelyn looks from Rosa to Gina. "Uh, I'm gonna go use the bathroom," she says uncomfortably, and beelines away from Rosa's desk as the detective and the internet star stare each other down.

Gina finally breaks the tension. "Really, Rosa? You're sleeping with  _ her _ ? I feel like you could do  _ much _ better."

Rosa growls. "Okay, first of all, if I  _ was _ sleeping with Jocelyn, I wouldn't  _ need _ to do better, because Jocelyn is pretty great. Second of all, we're  _ not _ sleeping together, so I don't know why you've got your bathrobe in such a twist."

"Oh yeah?" Gina counters. "Then why was she over at your place last night?"

"Jocelyn is a Nancy Meyer's fan. We were watching a movie. We're friends. I met her through my homemade jewelry company and she suggested that I expand to hair accessories," Rosa explains with a sigh. "But why do you even care? I thought you didn't give shit about my life." Rosa kicks her feet up on top of the desk and leans back in her chair, watching Gina with scrutiny.

"Shut up, Rosa. You know I care about all of you  _ dorks. _ I just don't have a lot of time," Gina mutters.

"But still," Rosa says. "Why do you give a fuck about who I sleep with?"

"I don't," Gina deadpans. "Sleep with whoever you want to sleep with. I  _ don't _ care."

"Good."

"Good."

Jocelyn returns to Rosa's desk. "Hey, I'm gonna go now―"

"Great," Rosa says, standing up. She grabs her jacket from the back of her chair and turns to Jocelyn. "I'll come with you. My motorcycle's at the shop too, not that I could ride it right now." To Gina, she simply says, "I'm leaving."

Gina nods shortly. "I can see that," she mutters, glaring at Jocelyn. Jocelyn doesn't seem to notice, and she and Rosa walk out of the bullpen together.

Gina sighs and hops off of Rosa's desk. She makes her way over to Jake's desk and brushes aside a few legos before climbing up to sit on top of it. Jake looks up at her.

"Hey, hey," he says, holding a pen in between his teeth. "What's wrong?"

"What?" Gina frowns. "Nothing's  _ wrong. _ Why would you say something's  _ wrong _ ?"

Jake shrugs. "I've known you for a long, long time, G. You're upset. Spill, sis."

Gina sighs. "Okay, fine," she says, grabbing Jake's coffee cup. "I'm kind of upset because I had a fight with Rosa? And I don't even know  _ why _ ." She takes a sip of Jake's cold coffee and spits it out in disgust. "Well, it's because that gorgeous woman Jocelyn came in and I thought that Rosa was sleeping with her but Rosa says that she isn't. So now we're mad at each other," Gina sighs. Jake opens his mouth to say something, but Gina continues speaking. "Ugh. I hate not being on good terms with Rosa. Like, why do I even  _ care _ if she's sleeping with someone else?" Gina slightly squeezes the coffee cup in her hand before setting it back down on the desk. 

"Well, I think―" Jake starts.

"Oh, no," Gina interrupts. "Am I _ jealous? _ Damn, jealousy is  _ not _ a good look on me. But why would I be jealous of Rosa? I don't wanna sleep with Jocelyn."

"Maybe―"

"Oh no," Gina says, finally putting the pieces together. "I'm not jealous of Rosa, I'm jealous of  _ Jocelyn! _ Because I want to sleep with Rosa! Shit!"

"Yes!" Jake exclaims. "Finally, you get it." He pumps his fist up into the air. "Text her!"

"No time for that," Gina says, jumping off of Jake's desk.

"But―" Jake calls after her. "You can't go anywhere right now!"

Gina ignores Jake, obviously. She dashes out of the bullpen and quickly hits the elevator button a few times. After a few minutes of impatiently waiting, Gina is finally out of the precinct and into the cold, open air. She runs to the nearest subway entrance with a wild look in her eyes.

Meanwhile, Rosa and Jocelyn are waiting for the train to arrive. "Sorry about earlier," Rosa shrugs. "Gina's not usually like that. She's just kind of jealous of you because she has a crush on me and won't admit it."

"Wow," Jocelyn says. "Do you like her back?"

Rosa yawns. "It could work, I guess," she mutters.

Jocelyn stares at Rosa with wide-eyes. "Damn, Rosa! For you, that's practically admitting that you're in love with her!"

Rosa shrugs. "We go way back. I like Gina; she can just be a handful sometimes."

Suddenly, a loud voice echoes through the platform. A voice that they recognize. "I need a subway card, ASAP!" Gina Linetti calls. A man immediately recognizes her and turns over his subway card to her. 

"Wow, you're Gina Linetti! I love―" Gina doesn't wait for him to finish before catching sight of Rosa and Jocelyn. She starts pushing her way through the throng of people to get to them.

Gina finally emerges out of the crowd and turns towards Rosa.

The subway doors are about to open.

"Rosa, I―"

"What?" Rosa asks impatiently, tapping her foot on the ground.

"This is not what I was about to say," Gina whimpers, "but I have a knife in my back."

"What!" Rosa's eyes widen in shock. "Who did it?"

A masked person darts out from behind Gina and runs into the subway train, right in the nick of time. Rosa tries dashing after the person but the train's doors close, and the train whisks away. Rosa curses loudly.

"Call 911!" Jocelyn says, scrambling to grab her phone. 

"Don't move!" Rosa says frantically. "We can't take the knife out, before the paramedics get here, okay? Try not to move so that the blood stays inside of your body."

"Bitch, what do you think I'm doing?" Gina groans. Rosa grabs a nearby bucket and turns it over. Gina sits down on top of it and makes a face. "Aaaoouaagh," she yelps in pain. "I totally forgot that someone was trying to kill me."

Rosa pulls out her phone. "Okay, I'm texting Jake," she says.

"Rosa," Gina says. "Can you just listen to what I have to say?"

"Can it wait?" Rosa asks. "We have to get you to the freaking hospital."

"No," Gina grimaces. "It  _ can't _ wait."

"Okay, fine." Rosa says, crouching down next to Gina. "What's going on?"

"Everything," Gina says. "I can see like a million colors. There are like,  _ two _ of you? Wait, no, now there's one. Never mind. There's  _ four _ of you now!" Gina shakes her head. "Not the point. I wanted to say that I'm sorry."

Rosa frowns. "I know."

"Yeah, but I'm really sorry that I said all of that shitty stuff. I― I guess I'm sorta in love with you? Is that weird to say when you're stabbed? Ugh, this is so dramatic." Gina mutters with distaste.

Rosa blinks a few times. "Damn it, finally. Gina, I've been watching you crush on me since the day you  _ got _ to the Nine-Nine."

Gina frowns. "Why didn't you say anything? Also, when are the paramedics getting here?"

Rosa shrugs. "I don't know," she says, answering both of the questions. "Uh, because I didn't want anything to get messed up? Even if I liked you, I was really bad at relationships. I didn't wanna risk messing our friendship up. We have so much together, you know?"

Gina nods, scrunching her face up in pain.

"But if you still want to, that I'm ready to be in a relationship. With you. If you want," Rosa says, putting a wrapped hand on Gina's shoulder (the one that's farther away from the knife). Gina yelps in pain and Rosa quickly jerks her hand away.

"I am so about to pass out," Gina mumbles, right before slumping forward. Rosa quickly catches Gina in her arms as the paramedics finally arrive in the scene.

When Gina comes to, she opens her eyes to see Rosa leaning over her. Rosa's got a frown plastered on her face, but Gina giggles.

Something's definitely off, because she feels funny.

"Hey," Rosa says with concern. "How are you feeling?"

Gina squirms in the hospital bed before attempting to sit up. "I'm tired of having this knife stuck in my back. Can you pull it out, Rosie? Oh my god. Are you the doctor?"

"No. They already took the knife out, remember?" Rosa says. "But trust me, Gina, we're gonna find that guy who stabbed you and he's gonna get a knife right back in his back―"

"No-ooo, he's not!" Jake interrupts from behind her.

"Pineapples!" Gina says, delighted to see him. "You've gotten taller. But how?"

"I ate all of my vitamins," Jake tells her.

"To give you strength to defeat the wizard of evil that poisoned Rosa's hands?" Gina asks eagerly. "Where can I get some?"

"You already had some," Jake grins. "The wizard shall only be defeated, however, when the vitamins start making you feel better."

Rosa watches this exchange with a bemused expression on her face. She isn't sure what to say; having a serious conversation with Gina about their feelings is kind of out of the question, seeing that Gina's all hyped up on pain medicine. Also, Jake's there, and Rosa's not about to get all emotional in front of him.

Gina is  _ very _ interesting when she's hyped up on pain medicine. As Rosa watches Gina ramble on and on, a fond smile grows onto her face. She's just sort of realizing that she wouldn't mind listening to Gina ramble for the rest of her life.

She can sort-of imagine Gina walking down an aisle in a glowing white dress. She can imagine waking up to see Gina curled up in bed next to her. She can imagine coming home to see Gina pulling some kind of extravagant stunt for her YouTube videos. She can imagine Gina laying her head on Rosa's shoulder while watching a movie; their hands interlacing. She can imagine kissing Gina good night, good morning, and just hugging her close.

Her heartbeat quickens, and white hot electricity shoots up and down her body as she glances at Gina. Heat burns across her cheeks and Rosa's breathe catches. 

Oh, shit. Rosa's really in love.

**Author's Note:**

> so yes, i did have it so that jocelyn & rosa were never together and jocelyn was just a friend because i love both dianetti & rosalyn and i just don't wanna get into the whole conflict of that


End file.
